CULTURAL CONNECTION

Annually, healthcare organizations in the United States spend $1,392 per-employee on training. The areas healthcare organizations are investing the most with regard to training includes cultural competence, legislative updates and overall best practices regarding the care of their patient population.

Why is so much being invested in training? The education provided is critical to success because society and the health industry are evolving at a rapid rate. Without continuing healthcare education, organizations struggle to improve overall patient care, provide culturally competent patient experiences and protect patients from medical error.

In addition to enhancing the overall patient experience, training can help organizations deliver an impact on the bottom line. One such example is providing care to patients with language barriers. Improving and educating your staff on the processes required to communicate with these patients can help your staff better recognize the appropriate treatment plan and reduce the utilization, and expense, of unnecessary procedures in patient care.

Training also helps organizations comply with complex, ever-changing legislation designed to improve the quality of care, but can also mean harsh penalties if not followed properly by staff at all levels within the organization.

One example of such a legislative change is the final rule on Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act. The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) made the changes to improve language access and eliminate areas of discrimination in the current system. The legislation has many complex components that require specific actions to achieve compliance. Failing to comply could create serious consequences.

Through training and education, proactive healthcare providers are able to fully comprehend the changes required and what steps need to be taken at their facility to ensure compliance and deliver improvements to patient care.

“Our clients who partner with CulturaLink understand the true value that training provides their organization,” Yolanda Robles, founder & president of CulturaLink said. “Not only do our partners implement changes that reduce their exposure to risk and non-compliance issues, they also utilize the knowledge gained to create positive financial impacts in both market share and their bottom line.”

Partnering with an organization that understands how to deliver effective training to healthcare organizations of all types, and truly understands the unique challenges of the industry can be the key to implementing a successful training program. Generic training programs lead to wasted manpower hours and poor knowledge retention amongst staff, creating an investment that produces little return.”

“It is essential to find a training partner that understands the challenges your staff is facing daily and can speak their language,” said Robles. “Speaking about high level philosophies and goals is only possible if you can also speak to the ground-level tactics and challenges associated with them.”